Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Letter to Clear Channel

This is letter I wrote to Clear Channel in response to them canceling an oldies station that I like alot:

"Well, you've done it again. Forgotten about anything important and just thought about the bottom line. One oldies station. That's all I asked, now I don't even have that. I'm 21 years old, a college student and I live in Charlotte, NC. I remember the day I started listening to Magic 96.1. It was Christmas and I had just gotten my first radio. It was yellow and ran on batteries. I was about eleven and I took the new bike I had gotten and rode around in my cul-de-sac listening to Christmas music on that very station. I continued to listen. And that station has taught me all kinds of things about the history of music, where it is going and where it is. There would be no N'Sync if it were not for bands like the Dave Clark Five and the Beach Boys. There would be no Britney Spears or Beyonce if it weren't for Peggy Lee and Dinah Washington. These were people that I respected, and I had found a home at 96.1. Now, I won't go into how your mass global control of all radio stations is destroying creativity and originality (however true it is) or how your amazingly horrifying ticket sales are keeping true fans away from arenas, but I will say that in destroying one of the best, educational, and entertaining things around, you've committed an almost unforgivable sin. I don't expect that this will get much farther than some intern or customer service rep, but I wish that someone could know: I like hip-hop, and r&b, sure, but you've all taken something special from the people of Charlotte."